Considering that the often-baffling Cleveland Cavaliers have the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, neither of the consensus top two players may hear his name called first.

The Cavaliers surprised everyone last year by selecting...

(Ben Bolch)

If he's there when it's the Lakers' turn, they have a dilemma.

If Embiid's already taken, the Lakers might be looking at a pool of four people — power forwards Julius Randle of Kentucky and Aaron Gordon of Arizona, and point guards Marcus Smart of Oklahoma State and Elfrid Payton of Louisiana-Lafayette.

One of the above might be gone, narrowing the pool slightly.

Regardless, it would be the Lakers' highest pick since taking James Worthy with the No. 1 selection in 1982.

They had talks with Golden State last weekend to trade the pick for Klay Thompson, but the negotiations fell through when the Warriors couldn't reach a consensus on whether to keep or trade the up-and-coming shooting guard.